The Strenuous Life Podcast With Stephan Kesting / Grapplearts Radio

In this episode BJJ and Judo black belt shares some of the lessons, commonalities, and differences he's seen from working one-on-one with 19 BJJ, Judo and ADCC world champions.  Do they all train the same way?  Eat healthy food or junk?  Drill, spar or do lots of conditioning?  Listen and find out! In addition we also talk about CTE and brain damage in the combat sports, MMA, boxing and grappling betting tips, the toughest guy that Mike has ever rolled with, the differences in BJJ training between Brazil and North America, whether the USA can ever catch up in BJJ, and Mike's secret plan for building a future world champion! I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did - it was a lot of fun with lots of great information.        

Some quick thoughts about improving the different forms of 'mobility' for jiu-jitsu, both in terms of movement on the ground, and joint mobility, from a recent Instagram Live Q&A. You can find me on Instagram at @stephan_kesting and I'd be thrilled if you followed me because I'm releasing pics and videos there all the time!

WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and is definitely not suitable for children. In this episode I talk with boxing and BJJ coach Rodney King about the epidemic of violence in modern day South Africa, how training helps you prepare for confrontations, and how dangerous a 'romantic' notion of fighting is. Some of the topics we covered include: 00:17 - Who is Rodney King? 01:16 - Growing up in South Africa 08:47 - Bouncing at nightclubs 13:57 - Johannesburg today 26:42 - Some reasons for the South African crime epidemic 33:10 - How much does training help? 40:09 - Prevalence of techniques 46:52 - Self defence and conflict de-escalation 54:21 - Training vs real life 64:03 - Ventures outside martial arts

In this rant I go off about the importance of critical thinking, and include examples from the martial arts, business and life.  Somehow I try to wrap things up by bringing the Heaven's Gate cult and the biggest mass suicide on US soil into the discussion.  Let me know if this podcast worked on you on Twitter (where I'm @stephankesting), OK?

I love this episode where I talked with historian Daniele Bolelli.  In it we talked about a huge number of topics including... His process of researching and producing History on Fire, one of the leading history podcasts How to get rid of weight cutting in mixed martial arts competition The evidence for and against an ultra-violent human past vs a peaceful noble savage model of our hunter-gatherer past. The rise of MMA in Asia. Daniele's proposed 'Gladiators for World Peace' program and how it's going to get him the Nobel Peace Prize His return to Italy as a tourist Is it too soon to tell whether we're moving towards a more peaceful future? Ötzi the iceman, Neanderthal DNA in our genomes, and a mass murder that occurred 430,000 years ago (http://bit.ly/1JYX91M)  And much more!

It's amazing how many high level entrepreneurs also enjoy the challenge of jiu-jitsu!  In this episode Jack Wilkinson and I explore this connection, as well as going down many other rabbit holes... 00:25 - Jiujitsu and entrepreneurship parallels 05:12 - Dealing with tough guys 09:20 - Toxic people 12:56 - Story time 18:30 - Addiction 23:05 - Adversity 28:29 - Grips 37:24 - Teaching vs testing 41:26 - Marketing BJJ schools

In this episode I argue that you should start by teaching and learning the most effective, most proven, highest percentage techniques first.  And I share a useful thought experiment that should quickly allow you to identify what those techniques might be (hint: it involves a hypothetical death match).

In this episode I talk with the amazing Clinton Davies, the blind wrestler who is a 10 time New Zealand national champion who competes against sighted opponents.  Clinton has also had a very successful submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition career, and has travelled the world.  Listen to this episode to find out how he does it!

In this episode Travis Stevens, 3 x Judo Olympian, Olympic silver medalist, and BJJ black belt goes deep into his training regimen.  You'll learn why and how he does 5 or 6 workouts a day, what the strength benchmarks are for effective judo, the differences between his BJJ and Judo training, and much more.  It's an amazing episode that I'm sure you'll find very interesting.

In this episode I try to answer as many questions as possible from my email newsletter readers, including whether BJJ gameplans really are for everyone (3:30), how to pace yourself against the young guys when you're 52 years old (8:36), the best stretches for grappling flexibility (13:12), what are the best drills for developing a specific position (15:30), what's my hypothetical plan for creating a BJJ world champion if I had a young clone of myself (18:41), when will the single leg X guard and modern leg lock formula instructionals be released as apps (28:28), what should your focus be if you're training purely for self defense (29:35), ranking physical attributes in order of importance for BJJ competition (32:22), bodyweight fitness routines (38:00), tips for dealing with knuckle and joint pain (40:50), what's a good balance between weight training and BJJ for healthy joints (44:30), is 5' 9" too small to do BJJ (50:10), training around knee pain (52:05), post training nutrition tips (55:35), flexibility f

I LOVED talking to Bernardo Faria, 5 time BJJ world champion, about his getting 'kidnapped' in the Philippines, reflections on ADCC 2017, the toughest guys he has ever rolled with, whether you can get your BJJ black belt without competing, the connection between jiu-jitsu and entrepreneurship, building a BJJ school, if North America will ever catch up to Brazil in jiu-jitsu, and much more. Check it out! You can find out more about Bernardo on his website at https://bernardofaria.com and/or his Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/bernardorochajf  

No gi grappling is very popular these days, and a lot of people find making the transition from training with the gi to training without it tricky and difficult.  In this episode Ritchie Yip and I go over some tricks and tips to make this an easier transition and to give you a fighting chance when you can't grip cloth to control your opponent.

In this short episode we talk about why training plateaus are actually more frustrating than training slumps, plus I share 3 concrete steps to bust out of a plateau and get back to getting better!

I really like this episode because we got the chance to go DEEP into the training routine of the world's fastest firefighter, Jamie McGarva.  Jamie has held numerous titles for the Firefighter Combat Challenge both in the team and individual category, including breaking the world record twice in two days. Even now he continues to push himself harder in a single workout than most normal human beings do in a month.  Hope you like this and come away inspired for your next training session!

In this episode I talk with BJJ black belt Rob Biernacki about gratitude and how that has shaped his visiting student program where people can train with him for free.  And, because it's Rob and I, we go off on some major tangents including the weirdos who have hit us up on the internet, how to identify fake martial arts, and why it's sometimes good to be the dumbest guy in the room.

In this episode Eva Schubert and I discuss our semi-annual 30 horizontal mile and 3 vertical mile 'Deathmarch' through the British Columbia mountains on the 'Kneeknacker Route' and why four was just not our magic number this time...

What belt level should you start training leg locks at?  It depends a little bit on what your goals are and whether you're doing gi or no gi, but it's a lot sooner than you think EVEN if you're competing only in the IBJJF rule set.  This podcast episode is excerpted from a 17 minute long Youtube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GQZPtpsg_U which takes you through how to do the actual leglocks and demonstrates some of the techniques that will instantly get you disqualified from an IBJJF tournament.  

There is so much information (and misinformation) about knives out there that it's easy to get confused.  In this episode I talk with metal professional and knife collector Zoltan Schubert and we break down the different types of steel used in knives, optimal Rockwell hardnesses, as well as the characteristics that make knives better for different purposes.

In this episode I give The Grapplearts Radio Podcast a new dimension.  In addition to talking Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts and Submission Grappling we're also going to start featuring people who push the limits in different fields of human endeavour.  This new format of show is going to be called "The Strenuous Life Podcast".  In this episode I tell the story of two mountains and two different mountaineers, including one of the most inspiring and talented climbers of the modern generation, Ueli 'The Swiss Machine' Steck.  I hope you enjoy it and if you do then a rating or a review on iTunes would be super appreciated!   

I trained BJJ today despite being fresh off the plane, jet lagged and exhausted, so it seemed like a good day to tackle today's topic, namely whether you should train on those days when you're so tired you can't see straight.  Also I cover some examples of how to modify your workout on those lower-energy days so you don't get injured.  Hope this helps all you busy people trying to juggle life and work and training!